Watch Dogs

Every day, the internet produces an astounding amount of goodies and gems. Most hilarious, some amusing, but all worth at least a few seconds of your time. We here at Nerd Bastards try to bring you the best bits of news and nerdery the webz has to offer, with a bit of snark thrown in. But sometimes not everything makes the cut. Monday through Friday we’ll be bringing you our inbox leftovers, our forgotten bookmarks, the nerdy bits that simply slipped through the cracks. You can submit items to Nerdy Bits by emailing us at nerdybits@nerdbastards.com.

ABOVE: This Life-Size R2-D2 cake is the cake you’re looking for. Only Obi-Wan Kenobi can help her stop eating that entire R2 cake. Cakes are meant to be eaten, it’s their lot in life. [CakesCove]

Since its unveiling at E3 2012, Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs has been one of the most anticipated games for any console, particularly this new generation of systems. The spawn of what seems to be a three-way between Assassin’s Creed, Grand Theft Auto and Infamous, Watch Dogs puts you in control of Aiden Pearce, a hacker-cum-vigilante in search of bloody retribution for the death of his niece. Delayed several times, this once launch title has finally graced American shelves. Did the delay produce a better game or simply postpone the inevitable disappointment which often accompanies a hype-beast such as this? It’s 696 miles to Chicago, we’ve got $60, a quarter tank of gas, a six pack of Red Bull, it’s night, and we’re wearing sunglasses…let’s punch it. (more…)

Ubisoft‘s highly anticipated open world game Watch Dogs for the next gen consoles is still a month away from release, but Sony isn’t wasting any time: Last August plans were announced to adapt the game into a feature film, and now the studio has hired Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, known best for writing Zombieland, GI JOE: Retaliation, and the in-development script for the Deadpool film to pen the Watch Dogs screenplay. (more…)

It may seem a bit premature, but it looks like Ubisoft has already decided that they will be making a Watch Dogs movie. Now, with the amount of hype surrounding this game since it’s unveiling, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did well, and it really does look like one of the more promising games to come out this holiday season, but if there is one thing we’ve learned about gaming, it’s that nothing is a sure thing. Look no further than the lackluster sales of Tomb Raider and Dead Space 3 from this past year, which, while both were great games, sold far below what was anticipated. For those of you who haven’t yet heard the concept behind this game, here a brief description:

Watch Dogs centers on Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker bent on revenge and inflicting his own brand of justice after a violent family tragedy. Using all of his skills, Pearce hacks into Chicago’s Central Operating System (ctOS), which controls the city’s infrastructure, including security cameras, traffic lights, and public transportation, as well as databases containing key information on the city’s residents. In the game, Pearce turns the entire city of Chicago into his ultimate weapon.

That does sound like it would make a great movie, and considering Ubisoft has previously announced that it plans on turning Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed into movies, the announcement isn’t all that shocking, but it does make me curious. Columbia Pictures’ president of Production, Hannah Minghella, thinks that the adaptation is one that makes perfect sense.

The themes and open gameplay of Watch Dogs lends itself perfectly to the big screen. The game has intense action and adventure, but the story focuses on information and the control of information, which we think will lead to an exciting thriller. It has tremendous potential as a motion picture and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work closely with Ubisoft’s internal creative team on the development of the project.

So, what do you think? Is this something that should be getting a film adaptation, before it’s even released (which will be on November 15th, by the way)? Personally, I’d say, whether the game is successful or not, it’s film adaptation has just as good of a chance of being a success as any other video game-film adaptation, considering how different the two forms of media are. Maybe, Watch Dogs will be the video game movie to give us hope.

Michael Fassbender in Assassin’s Creed, Tom Hardy in Splinter Cell, and Michael Bay producing Ghost Recon… All sound like great movies based on Ubisoft Games, which the video game studio is producing in-house a la Marvel Studios and their film production slate. Too bad none of them have even been scheduled to start production yet, let alone have a release date set in stone. Still, despite the fact that none of these movies have hit theaters yet, that’s not stopping Ubisoft from developing more movies based on their video game properties.

The games in question are Far Cry, Rabbidsand Watch Dogs, and Varietyreports that all three are going into production under the supervision CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet, who “will hire screenwriters, directors, cast and choose the production shingles and studios it wants to work with. Ubisoft will finance the development of the scripts.” However, no one’s yet been assigned to fill any of those roles yet, on any of those projects.

So what’s the attraction with these projects? Well, Far Cry might make a good straight-up action picture with its exotic locales and mercenaries versus warlords set-up, plus there’s the awful after taste of a Uwe Boll adaptation to wipe from the collective memory of video gamers and moviegoers.

Rabbids, a Rayman spin-off about zombie rabbits, was once supposed to be turned into a TV series in a collaboration with Wallace & Gromit producers Aardman, but it appears that any TV series idea is on the backburner or has been traded in for a more ambitious film project.

As for Watch Dogs, the actual game it’s to be based on isn’t even out yet, but it does sound like some crazy Tom Clancy meets William Gibson kind of concept. Scheduled for release this November, read the game description below:

The storyline of Watch Dogs game is built around the concept of information warfare, data being interconnected, and the world’s increasing use of technology—questioning who exactly runs the computers they depend on. The game is set in an alternate reality version of Chicago, Illinois, which is one of many cities to feature a supercomputer known as a “CtOS” (Central Operating System). The system controls almost every piece of technology in the city, and contains information on all of the city’s residents and activities which can be used for various purposes. In the game’s universe, the Northeast blackout of 2003 was found to be caused by a hacker, prompting the development of CtOS. The game will follow an antihero named Aiden Pearce, a highly skilled hacker described as a person who uses both “fists and wits.

That’s certainly an ambitious slate. One hopes that Ubisoft isn’t biting off more than they can chew with some many projects in the pipe.

The E3 trailer for Ubisoft’s Watch Dogsis online and can be watched below!

In Watch Dogs, players enter the dangerous world of Aiden Pearce, a new class of antihero whose ability to hack into any connected system could be his most powerful weapon. Whether it’s triggering a 30-car pileup by manipulating traffic-lights to trap an enemy during a downtown shootout or tapping into the city’s omnipresent security cameras to access anyone’s personal information, Pearce is capable of coercing and controlling almost every element of the world around him.

Watch Dogs goes beyond the limits of today’s open-world games by giving players the ability to control an entire city and monitor everything. It’s like GTA for the voyeuristic enthusiast. The hyper connectivity, and endless possibilities of this game are just insane. I dunno how enthralling the game play will be, but I can say it’s the most interesting cross-gen games currently in development

The anticipated game will be available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC on November 19 and for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the fourth quarter.

Imagine a place where you can be yourself, free of judgement. Where you can talk, laugh and play with thousands of like minded individuals. A place where you can be in a state of child like wonder, previewing and sampling the latest offerings in gaming culture. A place where you can have a beer and get down with your nerd self listening to some Nerdcore. A place where you can meet – take photos with or possibly take home – some nerdy girlie, or geeky guy dressed up as an iconic character. Ultimately, a place where everyone is drumming to the tune of “lets play”. This my friends, is a little slice of nerdy heaven, and it is called PAX.

For the uninitiated, PAX is the great American gaming experience, held annually on the west and east coasts. It’s an event for gamers, by gamers. 70,000+ congregate to play to their hearts content (console, PC, or tabletop), peruse an E3 style exhibition floor (Publishers and Developers showcasing their latest wares), attend informative/entertaining panels, and rock out with their joysticks out at one of the many evening concerts. It’s truly an experience like none other.

So, anyway, PAXEast happened this past weekend in Boston, MA. This Nerd Bastard, along with my friend Phil, were in attendance, albeit briefly. A 3 day event, and our schedule only permitted us to attend a few hours on Saturday. Regardless, I took in enough to comment. I’d like to share my journey into gamer paradise with you, and discuss what juicy reveals are worthy of you’re attention.

Some of gamings heaviest hitters have already been revealed at E3, with Lara Croft, Assassins Creed, God of War, Star Wars, The Avengers, and exciting IP’s like The Last of Us, Beyond, and Watch Dogs all showing off some kind of footage in the first two days of the event.

Below you’ll find some of trailers. Old characters, new characters, a ton of explosions, and some amazing graphics that all look next gen, even though this cycle seems like it’s going to continue on a little bit longer. At the bottom, tell us which game you’re most looking forward too, if you ask me, right now, it’s Beyond, though seeing Star Wars 1313 has me reconsidering.

Tomb Raider

An origin story, and a reboot, SquareEnix is trying to climb back to its roots with a grittier, bow and arrow carrying Lara Croft who is going on her first adventure. In the trailer, Lara is, frankly, getting the shit kicked out of her and the idea behind these trials and tribulations is, apparently, to humanize a character who has risen to near mythic proportions.

Other points in the game will apparently show Lara killing a person for the first time and it will also show the toll that that takes on her. Developer Karl Stewart repeatedly mentioned Batman Begins when talking about the reboot while on G4 this afternoon, so that gives us, I suppose, some frame of reference for the tone that the creative team is aiming for.

Tomb Raider is headed for release on March 5th 2013, and I’m sure OG Raider fans and even Uncharted fans will surely want to check it out.

Watch Dogs

The trailer starts slow as the main character, hacker Aiden Pearce, walks the impossibly rendered streets of Chicago toward an art show. Once there, Pearce interacts with a contact, purposely fails at being conspicuous, and then exits the club quickly with security on his trail — in seconds, we’re back on the street, but it has turned into a war zone, and Pearce is a target, ducking bullets, jumping over cars, and fighting for his life before he gets his man and sends him a message.

Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs is one of the most buzzed about IPs at E3, with a detailed backstory involving overreaching security measures, the “grid”, and more than a bit of intrigue and tech wizardry. What is it that makes the game standout? Beyond it’s impressive visual presentation (which was slightly juiced, in that it was presented on a high quality PC and not a console in it’s demonstration), Watch Dogs sets a foot on some fresh soil with the main character’s ability to control the environment around him. Pearce doesn’t wait for a walk signal or waste his effort trying to talk his way in past a guard, he messes with traffic lights and people’s cell phones, while also (seemingly) having access to pertinent information about every single NPC and interactable that he walks by. It’s a mind numbing amount of detail and playability, and yet we don’t really know where the ceiling is on this game, and that might be the most exciting part about it.

For trailers of some of the other impressive IPs like The Last of Us and Beyond, check out our rundown of Sony’s E3 presentation here.

Gears of War: Ascension

A prequel to the first God of War and a bit of an origin story, the gameplay footage on display above shows off some sick combat scenarios, with Kratos (surprise, surprise) fighting a giant hydra, and also battling a massive half elephant, half man. The big news is the added multiplayer which will see players creating their own Spartan to worship one of four Gods (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades or Aries). Obviously, the choice of God dictates the direction of the gameplay.

God of War: Ascension is set for a March 12, 2013 release, and there is talk about a Collectors Edition that will feature, among other things, an 8″ bronze Kratos statue and exclusive DLC. The price point on the CE is said to be $79.99, here’s a link for more details on that.

Star Wars 1313

There are virtually no details about the new Star Wars game 1313, which is a completely in-house effort, in the way that Star Wars Force Unleashed 2 was. All the branches of the Lucas tree, including ILM have a hand in the creation of this game which is in pre-production right now, and nowhere near a release date.

The crumbs of a premise that have dribbled out are that the game takes place between the two Star Wars cinematic trilogies on the 1313 level of Coruscant in the some what less cosmopolitan section of the planet, meaning it is the seedy underworld. The main character is a Bounty Hunter, which has led to some speculation that this could be a Boba Fett game, which if confirmed might shake the whole of geekdom off of it’s cushy perch. The game is 3rd person and those graphics that you’re peeping in the above trailer? That’s the way the game is supposed to look, with a seamless visual transmission from cut scenes to gameplay, though again, high quality computer, not a console demo, so the final package may be slightly less smooth and orgasmic.

Assassin’s Creed 3

We’ve got 2 separate gameplay videos for Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 3, which is showing off a new assassin and a new timeline, with the game taking place before, during, and after the Revolutionary War. Connor, a half British, half Mohawk, hatchet wielding badass killer is the star of the show here, hunting down his prey in a camp in the first video from Ubisoft’s presentation (above) and steering a ship in the second from Sony’s presentation (below).

Assassins Creed 3: Liberation

Not to ignore the handheld market entirely, we thought we’d show you the trailer from the PS Vita exclusive, from the ground up, AC3 game, which will also star a completely different and new assassin in the form of Aveline, whose story takes place in 18th Century in Louisiana.

Marvel’s Avengers: Battle for Earth

Another Ubisoft title, we know next to nothing about this one and all we have is a cinematic trailer, so “Yay! Avengers game!” and that’s all we can really say because we don’t know what it will look like or be about — hence the worthlessness of most cinematic trailers.

Random News Bit:Destructoid reported that a Dead Island sequel, called Dead Island” Riptide, is in development.

Contributors

Buy Our Shirts

A news and entertainment blog for nerd pop culture. We are vulgar, debaucherous, and funny bastards that pilfer the internet (or interwebz, if you like) for the news you need so that you don't have to. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll often shake your fist in an angry fury but your time here is worth the price of admission (which is free for those of you not paying attention)